


Not For Her

by LonesomeRoad



Category: Ghost Hunt
Genre: F/M, Original Character(s), Romance, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-08
Updated: 2017-01-19
Packaged: 2018-08-29 18:57:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8501494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LonesomeRoad/pseuds/LonesomeRoad
Summary: Happiness wasn't possible, not for her, not for Mai. Everything that she had ever loved or cherished had disappeared, right from under her. In a second it was all gone, and she was left all alone, again. For 4 years she stayed like that, with nobody she loved there for her. And now, when she had finally moved on, Naru appeared again.





	1. 4 Years Later

"Are you in love with me, or Gene?"

Naru's harsh voice lashed out at Mai, the surrounding forest suddenly seemed looming, threatening, the big trees leaning in to stop her from getting out.

She stared at the ground, her hand covering her mouth, tears filling her eyes.

"I didn't know it was him," she whispered.

Looking up, she realized that Naru had gone. Mai's eyes widened and she began chasing after him through the forest, calling his name, dodging vines and tripping over tree roots. Naru kept reappearing in her mind, cold eyes flashing, voice like a whip.

"Are you in love with me, or Gene?"

The ground beneath Mai gave away, she instinctively grabbed a nearby tree root and held on her dear life, she began calling for help. Naru appeared, looking down at Mai from the edge of the chasm. She called for him to help, but her voice suddenly began sounding feeble and distant, as though it was coming through a very old speaker. She reached out her hand, but the distance seemed to lengthen tenfold. "Naru!" Mai called, "Naru, please, I'm slipping!" And it was true, with each passing second, Mai lost more of her grip.

Naru simply stood there, grey eyes flashing with unforgiveness. "Naru, please!" Mai pleaded, she was bound to fall any second now.

"Naru?" Mai whispered, tears falling.

Naru still did nothing, all he did was watch.

And Mai fell.

She fell into the endless darkness below, Naru's voice following her all the way down.

"Me, or Gene?"

"Me, or Gene?"

"Me, or Gene?"

"Me, or Gene?"

Things were laughing, striking out at her, lashing out, hitting her on the cheek, the back, the arms, Naru's voice continued to follow her, his voice reverberating and overlapping. It stuck in her head, vibrating around it, like white noise, and with each time he said it, his voice became colder and more cruel.

She was falling, falling, falling, tears fell from her eyes and she felt a splitting pain in her chest, blood started leaking out where her heart was. Mai put her hands on her chest in a desperate attempt to stop the pain, but when she brought them away, there it was, still beating, in her hands.

It was her heart.

Slowly, the pain increased and a crack appeared down the middle. Now she was crying and felt like she would never, no, like she could never stop. Curling into a fetal position, she cried the entire way down, holding her broken, bleeding heart.

Naru's voice kept on tormenting her, following her, becoming more and more cruel.

"Me, or Gene?"

Things were morphing, changing around her, and suddenly, the chasm she was falling through had become complete darkness.  
"Me, or Gene?"  
She was still falling, the blackness pressing in on her, suffocating her, Naru appeared before Mai, face hard and his eyes dead.

"Me, or Gene?"

Mai lurched awake, a cold sweat covering her body, breath coming in short, heavy gasps.

A swirling, unpleasant feeling took place in her stomach and she immediately launched out of bed and sprinted to the bathroom, barely making it the toilet before her dinner came back up.

She flushed the toilet and slowly walked back to her bedroom, Mai looked at the clock, trying to discern the numbers in the darkness.

2:45

Now let's stop here.

4 years before, when Mai was only 16, she broke a very expensive camera and accidentally injured someone else in the process. The man in question was assistant to Kazuya Shibuya, a 17-year old paranormal researcher and owner of Shibuya Psychic Recearch, nicknamed SPR, he was also very arrogant and narcissistic, leading Mai to nickname him Naru. In order to compensate for the camera, he prompted to work off her debt as his assistant in place of the man she had injured.

That led to Mai taking up a job at SPR and investigating many cases involving paranormal activity, some fake and some not, with SPR's team. Naru as the arrogant boss, Lin Koujo, a silent onmyoji, Masako Hara, a doll-like medium, John Brown, an Australian priest, Hosho Takigawa, a guitar-playing monk, Osamu Yasuhara, a cheerful college student, and Ayako Matsuzaki, a vain shrine maiden.

Mai was happy there, she loved her friends and her life, but it was soon discovered that Mai was actually latent psychic and had many abilities. Not long after that, on a case, they found out that Naru was actually the famed Doctor Oliver Davis, a revered English paranormal researcher. He was in Japan looking for his dead twin brother, Eugene, who was always visiting Mai in her dreams as a spirit guide.

They found Gene's body and Naru, despite Mai confessing that she like him, left for England with Lin.

Sighing, she lay back down, still shaken from the nightmare. She hadn't had a dream like that since Naru and Lin left for England 4 years before. That was the very last time Mai had seen Naru, she received a termination notice the very next day, not long after that, everyone else left too.

Ayako went back to her medical training at her parent's hospital, Monk went back to touring with his band, John went back to Australia, Masako continued her tv show, Yasu lost touch after he left for college, and Mai was left all alone.

She managed okay on her own, she graduated high school with top grades, but didn't have nearly enough money to attend college. She worked as a waitress for a while before opening her own café.

Since then, she'd really just been managing, she hadn't seen anybody since then, and since then, there'd been nothing in her life that Mai had really enjoyed. Baking was the only thing that gave her some semblance of happiness again, it cleared her mind, made her think clearly.

With thoughts of what she would bake for breakfast, Mai fell asleep again, her nightmare all but forgotten.

~~~~~~~TiMe SkIp~~~~~~~

Mai smiled as she set the tray of doughnuts, muffins, and other assorted pastries down on the counter, glancing up, she noticed that people had started to line up outside the door, her café wasn't well-known, but those who came always came back.

She sighed and readied her regulars orders before checking the time again.

6:27

Moving with almost no thought, she flipped her CLOSED sign to OPEN, unlocked the door, and let the customers in. Soon after, all the regulars cleared out, and all Mai had to do was bake some more cupcakes and wait for the lunch rush.

When it came around, though, she wished she had closed up.

In the middle of all the chaos everywhere, Mai had found time to write down all her sales, in the middle of her data, the door jingled, signaling that someone had come in, "Hello!" she Mai cheerily, not taking her eyes off the paper. She heard footsteps walking slowly up the the counter and an odd feeling suddenly struck her, almost like... foreboding.

She stopped writing as a pair of shiny black shoes stopped just barely in her eyeline.

"Tea, please," said an extremely familiar voice, "Earl Grey,"

It was like something had taken hold of her neck, forcing Mai to look up, she raised her eyes and her blood ran cold.

The same black clothes, the same well-groomed hair, and the same grey eyes.

It was Naru.


	2. 50 Shades of Earl Grey

Naru.

Naru. Here.

Naru. Here. In her shop.

Mai's mind went into overdrive and her thoughts blurred into one big blob of grey, as her brain struggled to process this, her mouth opened and closed several times with no sound.

"Earl Grey tea please," Naru repeated, no hints of any emotion at all on his face or voice.

Locking her jaw, Mai nodded and forced herself to use a falsely sweet voice, "Will that be all?" she asked, tears threatening to run down her face.

"Yes, thank you," he replied.

Mai nodded, turned around and busied herself with the making of the tea. When it was finished she handed the cup to Naru, "That'll be 176 yen please,"

He nodded and gave her the money, leaving to find a table, it was then that Mai noticed Lin, he was standing a little farther away, staring avidly at her, a moment later recognition bloomed on his face. 'Mai?' he mouthed, confusion marring his face.

Mai said nothing and simply turned to help another customer. When she looked back up, Lin had joined Naru at a rather large corner booth. She disapproved of this, both personally and as a businesswoman. She didn't want them there and there was the fact that they had only bought one thing and were taking up a table that could have seated eight.

Soon, though, she understood as, one by one, they entered.

First it was Masako, in her quiet beauty, then John in his priest's outfit followed by Yasu, who must've been carrying at least 10 books. Then came in Ayako and Monk, holding hands and looking very happy. Mai carefully kept her back to them and they simply passed her by, heading straight for Naru.

Keeping her face neutral and her emotions in check, Mai carried on with her day, determined not to cry.

She knew that she had changed a lot in the past 4 years, but still, they didn't recognize her at all. Later, she was cleaning the table next to them when she heard Masako's voice, "But, where is Mai?"

"I don't know," replied Naru. "She doesn't have a registered phone number, but apparently she owns and lives above this restaurant."

"I haven't seen her," said Ayako.

"I know." Naru sounded irritated, "I think it's time we ask."

Naru called for Mai's attention, and, ever so slowly, turned to face him, "Yes?" she asked, voice honey sweet.

"Excuse me, but where is the owner of this establishment?"

Mai kept her expression carefully neutral, though her eyes showed her emotions, hurt shined through them, covered by a fair amount a bitter and bleakness.

"Excuse me?" she said, no confusion in her voice at all.

"My name is Kazuya Shibuya, I'm looking for a young woman named Mai Taniyama, can you help me?"

Mai rolled her eyes, "Don't lie to me," she said, barely holding back her tears.

"What?"

"That's not your name,"

"Excuse me," Naru sounded almost lethal now.

"Kazuya Shibuya is not your name and you know it, I would have thought that maybe you could come up with a more clever fake name this time."

Everybody lapsed into silence.

"Who are you?" asked Masako, the rest of them were staring at her face.

"I'm the owner."

Silence.

"What?" Ayako said almost immediately, but Mai didn't look at her, she was looking directly at Naru.

"Hello Mr. Davis," she said quietly, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do."

And, without another word, Mai turned around and continued on with her day.

\-----------

For a while, Naru had been trying to find Mai, he was reopening SPR and honestly, he didn't want any other assistant. Though somewhere in the back of his mind, in a place he'd never admit, he wanted to see her again.

"Okay, we're here," announced Lin, "This should be the place."

Naru raised an eyebrow, he could've figured that out, the small cafe had a large sign out front that said 'Mai's Place'. It had a sort of a butterfly theme, but when they entered, it was sort of an everything theme, but since it was so distinctly Mai, Naru couldn't help but smile.

There were ornamental butterflies, flowers, birds, and stars hanging from the ceiling, there was even a sun. Each wall was a different color, the one on his right was a soft pink, bearing an amazing drawing of a sunset. The one behind him was blue, but not just one blue, the color shifted all the way across the wall, giving off the impression that it was a moving ocean. The wall just opposite Naru was completely white, however there were photos, drawings, and notes papered all over it. Notes such as 'I met my husband here, thanks Mai!' and 'I'm coming back here everyday!'. The last wall, the one to Naru's left, behind the black marble couter, was a pale violet.

The ceiling was yellow, not regular yellow, more of a butter color, giving you a warm feeling, and the floor was dark forest green made of a plush, soft carpet.

The cafe felt cozy and comfortable, and it sort of made him happy.

Making his way to the counter, Naru ordered tea from the waitress. It was... strange, to say the least, she looked shaken to see him, and she looked very familiar. She was pretty, with long brown hair and big, kind brown eyes. She looked to be in her early twenties, the same age as Mai.

Wait a minute...

Could it be Mai?

Naru studied the girl as she moved around, making the tea.

No. It wasn't Mai, he decided as he watched the back of the girl. Mai would have spoken to him, been happy to see him, at least, he hoped she would.

He paid for the tea and went to sit down in an empty corner table.

Naru sat down and waited, Lin next to him, they should be here soon, he had told the entire team to meet here.

He took a sip and almost immediately felt bliss.

It tasted exactly like Mai's.

He missed this, when he went back to England, nothing tasted like this.

Masako walked in.

Soon after, everyone else walked in, and soon, they were all there, all except Mai.

They kept silence from enveloping their table with small talk, mainly catching up on each others lives, the majority of it centered on Monk and Ayako's apparent partnership. The chatter was forced, though, choppy and empty, and Naru accredited the awkwardness to Mai not being there.

Naru, it seemed, was not the only one who felt her absence.

"But," began Masako after a while, "where is Mai?"

"She should be here," Naru answered, "She doesn't have a registered phone number, but apparently she owns, runs, and lives above this restaurant."

"Really?" Ayako sounded surprised, "I haven't seen her."

"I know," said Naru, rather irritated, "I think it's time we asked."

Immediately Naru called for the attention of the waitress, who was cleaning a nearby table. She turned around slowly, as if reluctant, anger, irritation, confusion, and hurt flashed across her face like a storm. Ignoring her discomfort, Naru asked his question, "Where is the owner of this establishment?"

Her expression was carefully neutral, though her eyes showed her emotions, hurt shined through them, covered by a fair amount a bitter and bleakness.

"Excuse me?" she said, no confusion in her voice at all.

"My name is Kazuya Shibuya, I'm looking for a young woman named Mai Taniyama, can you help me?"

The girl rolled her eyes, triggering no small amount of irritation inside Naru, "Don't lie to me," she said, bleakness filling almost every aspect of her.

"What?" He said, narrowing his eyes.

"That's not your name," she said stubbornly, glaring at him.

"Excuse me," Naru said, putting an edge in his voice.

"Kazuya Shibuya is not your name and you know it, I would have thought that maybe you could come up with a more clever fake name this time."

Everybody lapsed into silence.

How did this girl know that wasn't his real name.

Did he know her?

Could it be-

"Who are you?" asked Masako, the rest of them were staring at her face.

"I'm the owner."

Silence.

"What?" Ayako said almost immediately, but Mai didn't look at her, she was looking directly at Naru.

Naru's mind went blank and it swelled with a kind of buzzing sound, a noise that penetrated every inch of his being. He was vaguely aware of people around him speaking, but his brain refused to process the words. Mai? But, it couldn't be, but it was. She looked different, however, the closer Naru looked, the more apparent it became. Although so much about her had changed, her face hadn't, she still had the same empathetic eyes that seemed to look into your very soul. The same nose that perked up at the end and the same beautiful slight smile she always had, even when she was angry.

"Hello Mr. Davis," she said quietly, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do."

Mai turned and left, right before it hit Naru what she said.

She called me Mr. Davis

Back when they were at SPR, she never even called him Kazuya or Mr. Shibuya, it was Naru, it had always been Naru.

Silence settled all around him, nobody in a million years would have guessed that Mai wouldn't be happy to see them.

But she was.

\--------------

Mai clicked the lock into place, after the last few hours of complete torture, business hours had finally ended and she was able to shoo all those people out without seeming rude. She hoped they would leave her alone, alas, it seemed that was not meant to be.

Naru approached her almost immediately, "Mai," he said with that same indiscernible voice.

"I'm reopening SPR, would you like to came back."

A torrent of different emotions tore their way through her, anger, bitterness, resentment, pain, exasperation, irritation, relief, rage, there were so many things Mai wanted to say, so many things she wanted to do, she wanted to punch him, kick him. She wanted to scream and hit him and cry and let out everything.

She simply chuckled, Naru looked affronted.

"You certainly don't waste time, do you? Not even beating around the bush."

"What did you expect, Mr. Davis?" she asked quietly, refusing to meet his eyes.

"Did you think that I would just smile, make you some tea, and wait patiently for you to leave again?"

Mai's voice broke, betraying her emotions, instead of acknowledging it, she leaned her forehead against the cool glass of the storefront, tiredness etched in every corner of her face.

"Just- just go away," she whispered, and refusing to say anything else, she turned and jerked open the door that led to her apartment above the cafe.


	3. Boom

Mai slammed against her door and slid down it, burying her head in her hands, not even noticing the tears that were leaking out. The stairs up to her flat loomed there, looking impossible to climb, so there she stayed and there she fell asleep, curled up leaning against her front door.

She felt amazingly happy and impossibly light, and for a moment Mai thought that it was like her old bubbly personality had resurfaced for a minute.

She was standing in a beautiful meadow full of the greenest grass ever dotted with wildflowers in every color of the rainbow, trees surrounded the clearing, chorus upon chorus of animal sounds echoing from the deep green of the forest. The sky seemed to be at sunset, and as the sun hovered at the horizon shot pink, violet and gold into the blue of the sky. The air was crisp and clean and it smelled like rain had just fallen even though the soft, springy ground was perfectly dry.

Mai scanned the meadow, it was beautiful, that was for sure, but something was off, something almost... familiar.

It was a familiar feeling, something that she used to feel all the time, something that she hadn't felt in a long time.

4 years to be exact.

She was in the astral plane.

Or at least a version of it, the weak thought drifted through her mind as Mai watched the handsome form visualize in front of her.

He wore a gentle smile and his blue eyes were twinkling with a glint of mischievous.

"Hello Gene," Mai whispered, locking eyes with her old friend.

Ever since Naru, Mai hadn't seen Gene, not once, she hadn't even been in the astral plane.

"How's it going?" Gene asked lightly, a smile playing across his face, "It's good to see you Mai,"

Mai didn't know if she could say the same. She was hurt, the wound that she thought she had closed so long ago suddenly opened again, bleeding afresh.

After Naru had left, Mai was confused, it had taken a while to sort out all her emotions, months after he had left, Mai was finally able to answer Naru's final question to her. She was in love with Naru. It had always been Naru, although he was frustrating and arrogant, she had fallen hopelessly and completely in love with him. In love with the black clothes he always wore, in love with that slight smile he had when he thought no one was looking. She fell in love with his obsession with Earl Grey tea, in love with his protectiveness, with those small, amused expressions he had whenever Ayako and Monk went at it.

She was in love with him, all of him, and although Gene had always been and always will be a part of the picture, Mai was in love with Naru.

Noticing her bleak face, Gene's softened, "I'm sorry," he said, the sincerity in it reverberating throughout the meadow.

"Why did you leave?" she asked, he voice thick, betraying her emotions.

Gene shook his head, "I didn't want to Mai, believe me, me and Naru are bound together, I have no choice in it, so wherever he goes, I go,"

Mai nodded, swallowing back tears and reverting her eyes to the ground, she wouldn't look at Gene, she couldn't, if she did, Mai knew that she would start crying. Gene didn't exactly give her that chance.

Almost automatically he hugged Mai. And the dam broke, and there against his chest Mai dissolved, and everything that she had been holding in for the past 4 years came pouring out. All the resentment and confusion, all of the anger and the hurt and the sadness and depression and bitterness just came flowing out.

She screamed and cried, pounded her hands against his chest and kicked and simply let everything out.

Even though she knew it was all in her head, when Mai had finished, she felt a million pounds lighter.

Gene and Mai lay on the ground, looking up at the sky.

Not an awkward, uncomfortable silence, but rather a warm, contented one, until Gene felt the need to break it.

"Hey Mai," he said, nudging her.

"Mmm?" she answered sleepily.

"Give Naru a chance, will you?"

"No."

"Come on," Gene whined, "please?"

Mai sighed heavily, "Why?"

Gene stayed silent for a moment, pondering, "Because he needs you,"

A rather unladylike snort escaped Mai's nose.

Gene chuckled, "I know that is doesn't- well it never seemed like it, but he does,"

Mai sat up, suddenly uncomfortable, and averted her eyes, "I don't think so," she whispered.

Gene sighed, sitting up too, "Mai," he said seriously, "I've known Naru for his entire life, and I've been living in his head and invading his privacy for years now. He's a jackass, okay? He's a arrogant asshole who thinks he owns the world, but he does, he needs you, he misses you. He says that he came back to reopen SPR, that's just an excuse, he hasn't even admitted to himself yet that he came back for you."

Mai searched for something to say, "I-Gene," she sighed and bit her lip, "I don't think I can do that, I'm sorry,"

BOOM

The world around her shook, leaves fell from from the trees all around her, all the animals quieted and cracks appeared in the ground.

Mai widened her eyes, staring all around her and slowly becoming more and more panic-stricken as three more booms followed, making the damage worse and the turning the cracks into chasms.

Gene simply sighed, "Time to get up, Mai,"

The meadow was fading fast from all around, winking out from her vision, the sky was disappearing and Gene stood and turned to Mai, he too was becoming transparent. His eyes, however, remained intact, "Mai," he whispered, the world crumbling all around, trees falling and crashing everywhere.

"Wake up,"

BOOM!


	4. Knock, knock

Mai's eyes flew open and she sat up wildly, waving her arms everywhere, expecting an attack, adrenaline flooded through her veins and her heartbeat quickened, sending her into a momentary state of panic. Her hair flew all around as she jumped to her feet, ready for the attacker.

That was when she realized that those earth-shattering 'booms' were merely the knocks of someone at the door.

They were loud, harried, impatient knocks, immediately sending loud pangs of pain into Mai's head, she brought her hands up and rubbed her temple, attempting to soothe the headache that would no doubt form a migraine.

The knocks turned into loud, heavy pounding, her door began shaking from the pressure.

"All right!" she called, fed up, "I'm coming!"

Slowly, reluctantly, Mai slid back up the door and unlatched the door.

As soon as she turned the handle, it flew open and Mai jumped back, surprised.

"MAI!" came a very angry voice as arms encircled her and crushed her against a chest, "I was standing there for ten minutes, I thought something bad happened!"

Mai relaxed against him, smiling a bit, "Sorry, Nakatsu-kun," she whispered.

Nakatsu Nishimura, 22 years old, was basically the only friend Mai had, and she was the only one he had, he had found her about a year after Naru left, her powers had grown and multiplied exponentially. It wasn't quite PK, but it was similar, and Mai hadn't known what to do. She didn't know how to control it and everything around her was always reacting to her emotions.

Then Nakatsu had stumbled across her, he was about the same age, but knew what she was going through, as he himself was studying to be a parapsychologist and had already seen many cases like hers.

Long story short: he helped her gain control her powers and be able to function in the world again.

"Mai-chan, it's been 3 months, how are you?"

Nakatsu pulled away from Mai and she was able to study his appearance. He was right, it had been 3 months since they had seen each other, as he was studying abroad in America for a bit.

"Your hair's longer," she commented on the brown strands that almost reached his shoulders now. "You're tanner, and taller,"

That was the truth, he looked to be about 6 foot now, Almost as tall as Naru her mind whispered traitorously. She ignored it.

"Mai-chan, what's wrong?" Nakatsu asked, spying the obvious tear tracks on Mai's face.

She shook her head, "Nothing you should be worried about, just someone I thought I'd never see again."

His brow furrowed in confusion and before he could say or ask anything, Mai pulled him inside and shut the door.

"Hey Mai-chan?" Nakatsu called as Mai led him up the stairs to her flat. "Yeah?" she answered absent-mindedly.

As soon as they had both cleared the stairs, Nakatsu pulled Mai into another hug, crushing her against his chest, "It's good to see you," he mumbled into her hair, which was flying everywhere.

Mai rolled her eyes, returning the hug, "It's good to see you too,"

\--Bout Half and Hour Later--

The smell of food clouded the air as steam rose from the pan Mai was attending to, apparently Nakatsu hadn't eaten since he had boarded his 12 hour flight from LA, so, after Mai had showered and changed really quick into her lazy day clothes, made him sit down in her living room and proceeded to cook fried rice.

"Nakatsu-kun!" she called, "Do you want mushroom chicken with it?"

"What?" Nakatsu's voice was laced with confusion as his head popped into the kitchen, "Mushroom chicken with fried rice, really?"

"You want it or not?"

He pondered for a moment, "Sure,"

Mai grinned and nodded, returning to her cooking, where the chicken was already halfway done.

She stirred the fried rice around a bit, adding a tiny bit more soy sauce as it cooked until it was an acceptable color, just as that happened, her timer on the chicken beeped insistently, signaling that it was done.

A small smile creeped its way onto her face, a small feeling of smugness blooming, she had timed it perfectly.

Moving with, swift, fluid movement that signaled years of practice, Mai turned the burners off and scooped the rice and mushroom chicken onto two plates, putting a bit more on Nakatsu's, seriously, he could eat an elephant and still have plenty of room for dessert.

"It's done!" she called, sidling into the adjoining dining room and placing the plates on the table.

"WHOOO! YEAH!"

Nakatsu's voice echoed quite loudly through her rather small flat, piercing her eardrums.

"Ow!" she complained irately, covering her ears and glaring at Nakatsu as he slid into the room, "Do you really have to yell that loud?"

He looked absolutely mystified, "What do mean?" he asked, cocking his head to the side a bit, "I get to eat food that you cooked, of course I do."

"Wha- what?" Mai spluttered, a blush creeping up her face at the compliment.

"What?" he asked innocently, smiling, managing to look quite a bit like a puppy.

She narrowed her eyes at him, "Eat," she ordered, pointing at the food, reverting to her 'drill sergeant-never-take-no-for-an-answer' stance.

"Yes mam,"

In an instant Nakatsu was sitting down shoving forkfuls of food into his mouth. Restraining a grin, Mai sat down at the small table, opting to take smaller, slower bites of food then the brown-haired boy sitting opposite her wolfing down food like there was no tomorrow.

He was going to get hiccups.

They sat in silence, both eating their food respectively and quietly.

Until..

"Mai,"

Said girl felt her lungs collapse as anxiety set in, she knew this conversation was coming, she had expected it, didn't mean she had to like it.

Slowly, she set her fork down, her appetite all but gone, and peeked up through her bangs. Nakatsu sat there, resting his head on his hands and giving her an indiscernible look.

"Mai, how much worse has it gotten?"

She winced and reverted her eyes to the tabletop.

"I'm managing," she whispered, refusing to meet the brown eyes that were undoubtedly boring into her.

"You can't survive by just managing!"

His voice lashed out like a whip, reverberating with repressed anger, but the words sounded prepared, he had obviously rehearsed this.

"Well I can't do anything else!" she cried, flinging her head up to face him, "I-"

A bell chime sounded throughout the flat, interrupting the conversation, someone had rung the doorbell. Nakatsu and Mai didn't move, both glaring at the other, eyes locked in a silent battle.

"I'll get it," Nakatsu muttered, he stood up from his chair and, hiding under the brown mop on his head that he called hair, proceeded to walk down the stair to the front door.

Mai slumped back into her chair, reaching her hands up to rub her eyes.

Boredom dawned itself upon her, so Mai got up and began to wander about her flat, eventually making her way downstairs to see who was at her door. What she walked into was rather amusing to say the least.

Nakatsu and Naru stood nose to nose, both gripping the door tightly and glaring fiercely at the other, murdering each other with their eyes.


	5. Mature (Re-Uploaded)

Oh yes, they were definitely trying to kill each other with their eyes.

Naru and Nakatsu were both attempting to stare the other down, both looking absolutely murderous.

"I asked you a question," Naru seethed through gritted teeth, sounding deathly calm.

"And I said," Nakatsu seethed right back, voice tight and lips thin, "I wasn't going to answer it,"

"Where-" Naru voice was deadly as a whip, lashing cold and angry, "is. Mai."

"Who-" if Naru sounded angry, it was nothing compared to Nakatsu, the brunette was practically snarling, "are. you."

They stood there rigidly, both locked in their almost silent battle to intimidate the other. Both were stubborn as mules and Mai could see neither of them backing down even though the glares they sported were enough to freeze hell over. The Great Oliver Davis, in all of his emotional detachment, seemed calm, as he wore his usual impassive expression. Though Mai could see the way that he locked his jaw, and how he narrowed his eyes ever so slightly as his skin seemed to tighten. That was his trademark. The calmer he seemed, the angrier he was. And right now, almost nothing could've been scarier.

Nakatsu didn't back down, though, Mai had to give him that. While Naru hid his emotions, Nakatsu had them out on display. His teeth were gritted, his brow furrowed, his jaw locked, his eyes blazing.

She stood at the top of the stairs that led to the door, watching the scene incredulously, amusement threatening to bubble up. Another minute went by in tense, agonizing silence and Mai decided to take pity on them and so, sighing, she descended the stairs, rubbing her temple in exasperation.

"What are you doing here?" she called softly, already tired and completely ready to be done with the day. Not a viable mood, she realized.

Their reaction was immediate, in a split-second both the men in front of her whipped their heads around. ""Who is he?!"" They demanded in unison, snapping their heads back to glare at each other as soon as the sentence was uttered.

She would have laughed at them had she not sensed the absolute murderous intent in the air coming off of both the men she wasn't very sure she wanted to speak to. A faint pounding began at the back of her mind, irritation filled her, directed at the two idiots blocking her doorway.

Without bothering to answer either of them, she pushed past Nakatsu to glare at The King of Emotional Detachment, in all his narcissistic glory.

It wasn't even noon and she was already just wanted to crawl into bed and never come out. Although, she reasoned, that may be due to the fact that she slept against her door last night, her back ached, her eyes hurt and she felt dizzy.

"What do you want?" She growled, keeping the question short and clipped, ignoring the way Naru's brow skyrocketed at her rudeness.

Oh, the poor baby, her mind sneered. He wasn't her boss anymore. He wasn't her boss, her crush, her senpai, or her boyfriend. She also wasn't sure that they had ever even truly been friends, he had absolutely no power over her, so she was going to do what she damn well pleased.

Responding with a glare of her own, quirked an eyebrow, mirroring the Premiere Asshole himself.

Ha, she hid a triumphant smirk, he blinked. By blinking he had broken their staring and, inadvertently, admitted defeat. If he had known what something so insignificant as a blink meant in a situation like that, he surely would've kept his eyes open until they were shriveled and black. Just like his soul was.

"I was wondering-" Naru's smooth Japanese broke Mai out of her reverie, bringing her back to reality, "if you had changed your answer at all to my job offer,"

Mai blinked. She hadn't been expecting that. A second passed, she blinked again, "What?" she asked, rather stupidly.

"Whoa whoa whoa," Nakatsu's voice made her jump, she had sort of forgotten that he was there, "What do you mean 'job offer'?" He sounded angry - again - and threw an arm around Mai's shoulders, glaring at Naru, "Are you trying to force Mai into something she doesn't want?"

Naru's eyes tightened at this unknown man's lack of honorifics, the grey orbs lingering where his arms touched Mai's bare skin. He didn't like this guy, not one bit.

"I'm not forcing her into anything," Naru forced his voice to be neutral, his face impassive, despite the burning anger clawing it's way up his throat, "I'm simply asking a question, or are you too stupid to realize that?"

Her breath caught and Mai sighed, that didn't take long. He'd been at her door for less then five minutes and they had already descended into insulting intelligence.

It may not have been her intelligence he was insulting, but the point remained.

Nakatsu tensed and she swore she could feel him smile, Naru's eyes narrowed and his lips thinned. Irritation flicked through her again and she sighed once more, did he seriously think that her answer was going to change overnight? That she would pretend the previous four years hadn't happened? A growl escaped her lips, was the bastard really that self-righteous?

Nakatsu narrowed his eyes at the stranger dressed in all black, "Who are you anyway?" he asked rather rudely, making no move to release Mai from the possessive position he held her in.

Naru's eyes tightened even more as he steadfastedly ignored the other man, keeping his attention trained on Mai.

She narrowed her eyes, making no effort to hide her irritation.

"My answer," she said slowly, hoping he'd get it this time, "is still no, Dr. Davis, I will not be coming back to SPR."

Naru's eyes flashed with something that Mai didn't, nor care to, identify.

"Whoa, hold up," Nakatsu sounded annoyed, "I'm lost, what is going on?"

Mai pinched the bridge of her nose, she should have told him about this a long time ago, but honestly she just never felt like explaining it.

"SPR?" Nakatsu sounded incredulous, "The British Society for Paranormal Research? And Dr. Davis?" he trailed off, finally realizing that he had just insulted one of the most prominent minds in parapsychology. She hid a smirk as her friend's face drained of color.

Naru cleared his throat and Mai let her attention flicker back to him, a frown on her face, sighing at the irritated expression on his. "Please," she mumbled, "Just leave me alone." She was so tired of saying it. A low growl left her, "Don't.." she sucked in a breath, "Don't think that just because you're back that I'll just drop everything I have and run back to you. I have a life, Naru," she turned away, missing the way Naru's eyes flickered at her slip-up.

"Look," she leaned into Nakatsu's chest for support, "There are plenty of people out there that can be a secretary, plenty of them can make tea," his eyes flashed once more, "Just leave me alone."

With that statement, Mai ducked out from under Nakatsu's arms and pushed past Naru, she wasn't going to deal with this right now.

"Mai?" Nakatsu's called out from behind her, but the brunette ignored him, heading to the door of her cafe, she didn't usually open on Sundays, but she needed an outlet. While punching Naru right in his stupid face would've been satisfying beyond belief, Mai was a mature, responsible adult and opted instead to bottle up her emotions and run away from her problems.

See? Completely mature.

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ ✧ﾟ･: *ヽ(◕ヮ◕ヽ)

She banged around the kitchen, an appallingly long order list in one hand and steam attacking her eyes. For some reason, since she opened the cafe on a Sunday, which was unusual for her, people immediately flooded in, mostly high school age kids whom she'd never seen before. They would come in groups, all ordering something, which lead to an overwhelming amount of work on Mai's part. She had run out of all her pre-baked goods and was now in a rush to bake more and still make the assorted teas, coffees, and hot drinks that had been ordered.

Various timers and alarms went off all around her, filling her kitchen with a cacophony of the ungodly noises that made up alarms. Nakatsu was helping as best he could by stalling- eh hem, by keeping the customers entertained long enough for Mai to run around the kitchen and fill the orders.

Naru, the tea-obsessed asshole, wasn't helping at all, he had called Lin and all the SPR irregulars over, they sat in the table as they did last time, talking with their heads bent together and occasionally contributing to the massive orderload Mai had to work through.

After a few hours Mai had had enough, she emerged from kitchen and flipped the 'open' sign to 'closed'.

"Hey! Everybody!" she yelled, just barely overpowering the chatter in the room, "I'm not accepting any more orders, after I fill the last one I received, I'm closing,"

There was a collective groan throughout the room and Mai rolled her eyes, "Yeah, yeah, big whoop, cry me a river, build a bridge and get over it, we're closing."

There were several 'oohs' from the giant mass of teenage hormones that filled her cafe.

Rolling her eyes, Mai kicked the smile off her face and returned to the kitchen.

(ノಠ_ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻

As she handed over the final order- a blueberry muffin and herbal tea- Mai threw her hands up in victory, "Finally!" She yelled, causing the girl receiving the order to smile in amusement, "I'm free!"

"Hooraaaaaaaay!~" Nakatsu latched his arms around the smaller brunette, nuzzling their cheeks together. "Mai can play now!"

Said girl laughed, shoving her friend away from her face, "No, come on Nakatsu, you need to sleep, jet lag is a real thing for your information,"

Nakatsu made a face, and Mai had a feeling that he knew she was trying to dodge the 'talk'.

"But Maaaaaaaaaaai~" he whined and sagged against her, putting all his weight on his (much smaller) friend.

"Ahh!" Mai screeched, scrambling to hold him up with her tiny stick arms.

He sagged even more dramatically onto her in such a way that Mai wonder if he was pretending to be dead or if he had actually died.

"Nakatsu!" Mai protested, whacking her arms against his back as she supported her (incredibly childish) friend.

Customers filed out the door in a steady line, casting the two amused expressions, most likely thinking that they were a couple, as that was the same thought running through everyone's head- including a certain narcissist.

He watched Mai and the other guy (as Naru addressed him because he didn't care enough to remember his name) through narrowed lids. His eyes focused on their movements and lingered where they made skin contact.

Mai, either oblivious or uncaring as to how she was being observed, continued attempting to get Nakatsu off of her. She pushed against his shoulders and dug her feet into the floor, trying to find some traction because Nakatsu's weight pressing into starting to make her slide across the floor.

"Nakatsu! Get off me!" Mai attempted to keep a smile off her face as she felt Nakatsu begin to shake with what seemed to be repressed laughter.

The pressure on her suddenly increased tenfold and all her struggles became fruitless as she began sliding backwards.

Just as she began panicking about holding the bespectacled brunette, footsteps sounded and several pairs of shoes appeared in the edge of her vision. Nakatsu immediately stiffened and the pressure on her disappeared, though he remained in the same exact position.

Wow, Mai silently marveled, that was amazing, he must have amazing muscle control.

Not that she'd ever tell him that.

Smirking a little at the thought, the amusement was instantaneously banished from her mind as the shoes got closer. Tension began to seep its way into her muscles.

The seven pairs of shoes halted, their foreboding clicks stopping, giving way to silence, which somehow seemed more oppressive.

"Mai," Naru's voice commanded attention.

Nope. The silence was better.

Reluctance filled her being, but curiosity won out and, ever so slowly, Mai mechanically turned her head to the side, purposefully ignoring Nakatsu's head, which was resting on her shoulder.

Her former coworkers stared back with varying expressions.

Masako, as Mai remembered, held her sleeve to her face, covering her expression, though her eyes shined. Yasu was entirely blatant, concern and sadness and pain splayed across his face like a storm, his eyes shining with almost as much tears as Masako's. Monk's brow was furrowed, his mouth tilted in a downturn, regret clearing showing. Ayako had her eyes fixed on Mai, face frozen in a grimace of some sort. John looked absolutely horrible, his eyes were crinkled in sadness and worry. And Lin, well.... Lin looked like Lin.

Mai purposefully kept her eyes on the ground, refusing to meet any of their eyes.

"Jou-chan?" Monk broke the silence, sounding hesitant.

"Mai, why are you so warm?"

"What?" Mai's attention swept back to Nakatsu, who had asked the weird question. As soon as she turned her neck, his palm was on her forehead.

He pushed his face right up in front of hers and a second later his eyes bulged.

"Oh my God!" he yelped, "Mai! You're burning up!"

She furrowed her brow, what?

Nakatsu's face suddenly became serious and he straightened up, staring Mai in the eyes. "Mai," he admonished, "You have a serious fever, you need to go lie down."

The brunette stubbornly kept her gaze on the floor.

"Mai, are you okay?" Yasu's voice popped out now, lined with worry.

"Excuse me," she forced a polite tone into her voice as she ignored his question, "But I'm closed, I'll have to ask you to leave."

She was being childish, she knew, she knew dammit! Though the knowledge pounded against her head, she just couldn't help it.

"Wait a minute, Mai-" John's protest was cut short by Mai sneezing rather violently.

"Mai," Nakatsu stressed, "You need to go rest, idiot, who sleeps against their door in the middle of winter!?"

Naru and the others all sucked in a quiet breath. She had slept against the door!? Had they really made her that upset?

Mai glared at the floor, she would be lying if she said she hadn't noticed how off she had felt, or that it hadn't been a factor in her closing early.

"Hey," Nakatsu's soft voice drew her attention once more and he gave her a gentle smile. "Go on, I'll close up."

With that he nudged her towards the door and the brunette trudged gloomily back to her flat.

Nakatsu turned back to the SPR irregulars, who were expecting him to order them all out, instead he dragged his hand over his obviously tired face. Sighing, he grimaced, and faced the group fully.

"Now," he locked eyes with Naru, "There's something I need to talk to you about."


End file.
